
COTTON GIN. 



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BY 



EDWARD CRAIG BATE 



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i'te<i through Ihe co-.irtt$y of ihe M<v.v E.-i^b.iid Magn 
^iiic, froivi it'3 i5$ue for May. i 890, 



The Story of the Cotton Gin 



BY 

EDWARD CRAIG BATES 



Reprinted through the courtesy of the New England Magazine, from its 
issue for May, 1890 



BY 

THE WESTBOROUGH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
1899 



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PRESS OF 
OLIVER B. WOOD 



THE STORY OF THE COTTON GIN. 



BY EDWARD CRAIG BATES. 

Of the four great staples which provide man with cloth- 
ing, -^cotton, silk, wool and flax, — cotton, now the cheapest 
and most indispensable, was last to come into general use. 
It is not, however, a new article. Thousands of years ago 
cotton was the national cloth of India, just as linen was of 
^^ypt- The Chinese, who had known the plant from 
the earliest times, began its manufacture into cloth dur- 
ing the thirteenth century. The earliest explorers found 
beautiful fabrics of cotton among the natives of Mexico and 
South America. In the fourteenth century — long after 
linens, woolens, and silks had become articles of commerce 
— cottons were introduced into Europe, but they were 
necessarily very expensive. The distance from which they 
were brought, and the clumsy methods of their manufac- 
ture, gave almost a monopoly to woolens, silks, and linens, 
until the great inventions of Hargreaves, Arkwright, and 
Compton, late in the last century, made cotton the ordinary 
clothing of the people. These inventions mark an era in the 
industrial development of the world. In the course of 
twenty years, from 1765 to 1785, the manufacture of cotton 
goods made greater progress than in thousands of years 
preceding. The first improvement was Hargreaves' inven- 
tion of the spinning-jenny in 1767, which enabled an operator 
to spin one hundred and twenty threads at once, — a task that 



4 the: story of the cotton gin. 

would formerly have required one hundred and twenty 
persons. Two years after the spinning-wheel had given 
way to the jenny in the making of weft (the softer kind of 
yarn), Arkwright invented that wonderful piece of mechan- 
ism, the spinning-frame, for making the firmer yarn used 
as warp. 

The genius of Compton, five years later, united the two 
operations in one machine, and when Watt contributed the 
steam engine, in 1782, the power of a spinner was increased 
a thousand fold. It remained for Dr. Cartwright, a clergy- 
man of Kent, to complete the series of remarkable discov- 
eries by inventing the power loom. The great English 
industry of modem times was thus begun. In less than 
twenty years from Arkwright' s invention, the prices of cot- 
ton goods had fallen ninety per cent. It became possible to 
bring the raw material from India, four thousand leagues 
away, turn it into cloth, and undersell the native Indian 
workman in his own village. The rude methods of other 
producers, in spite of cheap labor and an abundance of cot- 
ton, were powerless in competing with these marvellous 
inventions. One thing alone limited the English manu- 
facturer in the production of cotton goods — the lack of a 
cheap and plentiful supply of the raw material. England 
was at first dependent on Turkey, India, and the East and 
West Indies. Before 1790, the American producers had 
contributed little. Cotton was, however, cultivated in the 
American colonies for domestic use before the Revolution. 
* 'As early as 162 1 , " says Bancroft, ' * the seeds of cotton were 
planted [in Virginia] , as an experiment, and * their plenti- 
ful coming up' was a subject of interest in America and 
England." That its cultivation was not extensive, how- 



THE STORY OF THE COTTON GIN. 5 

ever, may be seen from McMaster's statement that a 
century and a half ago, ''cotton was never seen growing 
but in gardens among the rose-bushes and honey-suckle 
vines." A small amount had been occasionally exported 
before 1790, but in 1784 eight bags were seized by the offi- 
cials at Liverpool, on the ground that so much cotton could 
never have come from America. So unimportant was the 
production of cotton regarded as late as 1794, that John 
Jay, in making a treaty with England, provided, in an 
article which was rejected by the Senate, for prohibiting its 
exportation. But the increasing demand of English manu- 
facturers stimulated its cultivation. The soil and climate of 
the Southern states were admirably adapted to its growth. 
The islands along the coast were destined to provide the 
long staple, or Sea Island, cotton, the finest in the world. 

Moreover, the raising of cotton requires much labor, but , 
little skill, and owing to slavery, unskilled labor was plenti- 
ful throughout the South. I^abor, soil, and climate were 
all favorable for producing the raw material so urgently 
demanded by the manufacturers in England. There was 
only one drawback. In order to prepare cotton for the 
market, the producer must separate the fibres from the 
seeds. In the green seed, or short staple, cotton, which 
forms the bulk of the American product, this was a labor of 
great difficulty. The seeds clung to the fibre with exas- 
perating persistency. It was a day's work for a man to 
clean a pound of cotton, — a rate so slow as to make its 
extensive production impossible. 

In 1790, therefore, there was great need of another 
invention, not only to supplement the weaving and spinning 
machines which had been invented in England, but also to 



6 THE STORY OF THE COTTON GIN. 

enable the Southern planters to utilize their slaves, land, 
and natural advantages for the extensive production of 
cotton. ' ' Without a vastly increased supply of the raw 
material, and at a much lower price than it had previously 
brought, the inventions of Hargreaves, Arkwright, Roberts, 
and Watt would have been of comparatively little value," ^ 
and such a supply was impossible without a new process of 
separating, thoroughly and cheaply, the fibre from the seeds. 
The cotton gin, "a machine, which has done more for cot- 
ton-growers, manufacturers, commerce and civilization than 
any other one machine that was ever invented," ^ was 
demanded alike by the manufacturers in England, the 
cotton-growers in America, and by the industrial welfare of 
the whole civilized world. 

The genius who unlocked the imprisoned resources of the 
South was Eli Whitney. 

The home of his early years was far from the scene of 
his great triumph. In the little town of Westborough, 
about thirty miles west of Boston, he was born, December 8, 
1765. His father was a farmer, but combined with his 
knowledge of farming considerable mechanical skill. In a 
little workshop near his house he had collected a variety of 
tools for making chairs and wheels, and for such odd jobs of 
repairing as he and his neighbor farmers constantly desired. 
In the use of tools his son showed early aptitude. * * He lost 
no time," says his sister, " but as soon as he could handle tools 
he was always making something in the shop, and seemed 
not to like working on the farm." At the age of twelve 

^DeBow's Industrial Resources^ etc., of the South and West, 
Vol. I, p. 207. 
'^Ibid. 



THE STORY OF THE COTTON GIN. 7 

he made a fiddle that excited much admiration, and the in- 
genuity which he thus showed brought him many delicate 
jobs of repairing. To the boy's inquiring mind his father's 
watch, as the most delicate mechanism within his reach, 
was of fascinating interest. During the family's absence at 
church, it is related, having feigned illness as an excuse for 
remaining at home, he took the watch to pieces, but, unlike 
other boys who have attempted the same feat, he put the 




BIRTHPI.ACK OF EI,I WHITNEY. 
From original cut now in possession of Bradford Kingman, Brookline, Mass. 

parts together again so nicely that the deed was undis- 
covered. When his stepmother lamented the breaking of 
a table knife belonging to a valuable set, the ingenious boy 
made one exactly like it excepting the stamp on the blade; 
'* and this he would likewise have executed," says Professor 
Olmstead in his memoir, * ' had not the tools required been 
too expensive for his slender means." 



8 THE STORY OF THK COTTON GIN. 

Not only did Whitney manifest inventive and mechanical 
skill at an early age, but his energy and perseverance were 
likewise apparent. 

During the Revolutionary War, when the price of nails 
was high, he engaged in their manufacture. Needing an 
assistant in his work he obtained permission from his father 
to go to the neighboring village. Not finding a man to 
suit him, he mounted his horse and travelled forty miles be- 
fore he was successful. When with the close of the war, 
the nail business was no longer profitable, Whitney turned 
his hand to a new industry — making hat-pins for women 
and walking sticks for men. In these anecdotes of his 
youth appears the germ of the inventive faculty which after- 
wards, in a wider field, attained such grand development ; 
and not less clearly appear the industry, energy, and per- 
severance which afterwards enabled him to fight for his 
rights against overwhelming odds and, after the failure of 
his great enterprise, to amass a fortune in new pursuits. 

It was natural that a young man of Whitney's active 
mind and ambition should be dissatisfied with the limited 
education which his native village afibrded. 

At the age of nineteen he decided to prepare for college. 
In May, 1789, after five years of hard work in earning his 
living and carrying on his studies, notwithstanding his step- 
mother's opposition and the protest of an ''intelligent 
friend ' ' that ' ' it was a pity such a fine mechanical genius 
as his should be wasted," he succeeded in entering the 
freshman year at Yale. 

There he showed great proficiency in mathematics, and 
his written exercises which have been preserved are evidence 
of a clear, logical, and vigorous mind. In the repairing of 



THE STORY OF THE COTTON GIN. 9 

apparatus, and in other ways, he had several opportunities 
for astonishing his instructors and friends with his skill in 
using tools. 

A few months after his graduation, in the autumn of 
1792, Whitney was engaged as tutor by a gentleman from 
Georgia. During the journey from New York to Savannah, 
he enjoyed the company of Mrs. Greene, the widow of the 
famous Revolutionary general, and her family. Their 
friendship proved to be of inestimable value. On arriving 
in Georgia, he found the position for which he had been 
engaged already filled. 

Without resources or employment, he gladly accepted the 
invitation of Mrs. Greene to remain at her house while he 
was carrying out his project of studying law. Under her 
hospitable roof he remained for several months. 

The first opportunity for employing his peculiar skill was 
in making a tambour frame. Mrs. Greene complained that 
the one she used was imperfect, and tore her embroidery. 
Anxious to please his kind benefactor, Whitney quickly 
constructed a frame so superior to the one in use as to 
excite the wonder and delight of the whole family. 

This exhibition of skill was still in the mind of Mrs. 
Greene, when a party of Revolutionary officers who had 
served under her husband came to pay their respects. 
Many of them, if not all, were planters. In discussing the 
state of agriculture and their needs, they lamented the 
lack of a machine for separating cotton fibre from the seeds. 
With the pressing demand in England for raw cotton, this 
was the only obstacle to their prosperity. By a happy in- 
spiration, Mrs. Greene remarked, "Gentlemen, apply to my 
young friend, Mr. Whitney,— he can make anything." 



lO THB STORY OF THE COTTON GIN. 

Whitney, protested against the praises of his friend, 
removed what hopeful expectations the most ardent may 
have had by calmly replying that he had never seen either 
cotton or cotton-seed. 

Mrs. Greene's object in her friendly introduction was to 
attract the attention of her influential visitors to the promis- 
ing young man whom she was befriending. The conversa- 
tion, however, had an unexpected result. The young law 
student threw aside his books and soon set off for Savannah. 
There he wandered about the wharves, in and around the 
storehouses, seeking a sample of cotton. After a long 
search he returned with a small parcel. A workroom in 
the basement of the house was set apart for his use. He 
made the tools necessary for his task, drew his own wire, 
and proceeded to construct a gin ( ' * engine ' ' is the full 
form) for separating cotton fibre from the seeds. His pur- 
pose was divulged to no one save Mrs. Greene. The winter 
of 1792-93 was nearly over when his mysterious task was 
fully and satisfactorily completed. Early in the spring the 
cotton gin was set up in a shed, and prominent planters 
from all over the states were invited to see it work. It was 
successful from the start. The machine for which there 
had been such a clamoring for many years was at last pro- 
vided by the ingenuity of a Yankee student. 

I have referred to the cotton gin as " a machine for sepa- 
rating the cotton fibres from the seeds." A more definite 
understanding of the operation demands a few words on the 
nature of cotton and the mechanism of the gin. The cotton 
which is used for spinning cloth is "the down, or fine cellu- 
lar hair attached to the seeds of the plants belonging to the 



THE STORY OF THK COTTON GIN. II 

genus Goosypium, natural ox^^x Malvacece.'''^ This genus 
has many species, some botanists giving as many as twenty; 
but the two important species known to commerce are the 
Indian and American cottons. The American cottons are 
of two varieties : * * the Barbade^isian^ or black-seeded cot- 
ton, bearing pure yellow blossoms, with a reddish purple 
spot at the base of its petals ; and the Hirsute, or hairy 
cotton, more or less covered with a distinct coating of hairs, 
bearing white or faintly primrose colored blossoms."^ The 
Barbadensian^ known as "Sea Island cotton," grows on the 
islands off the coast of the Carolinas, and surpasses all other 
varieties in the length, strength, and beauty of its staples. 
The great bulk of American cotton known as "upland" 
cotton, is of the other variety. Its fibres are shorter than 
in the Sea Island cotton, and cling most persistently to the 
green seeds in every lobe. 

The low shrub on which the bolls of cotton grow is 
planted in this country during April or May, and matures in 
August and September. Visitors to Southern states extol 
the beauty of the long rows of shrubs, with their glossy, 
dark green leaves, and bolls of snowy whiteness. 

As soon as the cotton is gathered the process of ginning 
begins. The most primitive method was by the churka, 
used by the Chinese and Hindoos. It is a rude machine, 
consisting chiefly of two wooden rollers fixed in a frame. 
The rollers revolve in contact, drawing the cotton between 
them and excluding the seeds. Although the machine has 
undergone only slight improvement in the course of centu- 
ries, it is still used to some extent in India. This method, 

^Encyc. Brit., ** Cotton.*' 
'^Ibid. 



12 THK STORY OF THE COTTON GIN. 

at best, is slow, clumsy, and imperfect. In America, the 
little cotton that was raised before Whitney's gin made 
extensive production possible, was ginned by hand. When 
the day's work in the fields was over, the slaves were set to 
work picking out the seeds. An overseer stood by to urge 
on the indolent and rouse the sleepy. It was a day's work 
for a man to cleanse a pound of cotton by hand. 

The gin invented by Whitney is simple in its construc- 
tion, and rapid and thorough in its work. The cotton is 
placed in a large hopper on an iron bed with many inter- 
stices. Through these project the teeth of a series of circu- 
lar **saws." As the saws revolve, their sharp points catch 
the fibres of cotton and draw them through. The seeds are 
excluded by their size. The cotton is detached from the 
saws, and carried from the machine by an arrangement of 
brushes. By use of the gin, a thousand pounds of clean 
cotton, instead of one pound, are the result of a man's daily 
work. Another gin, known as Maccarthy's roller gin, is 
used to some extent, especially for Sea Island cotton, but 
Whitney's is still in most general use. Many slight changes 
have been made in its construction, but so thoroughly did 
the young inventor do his work, that no better principle 
for making gins has yet been discovered. 

No sooner had the fact of Eli Whitney's wonderful dis- 
covery become known, than planters from all parts of the 
State came to see the machine upon which their fortunes 
depended. Their impatience could not be restrained. The 
shed which contained the cotton gin was forcibly entered, 
and in the morning the machine was gone. The principle 
of its construction — as yet unpatented — was discovered. 
New machines, with slight and unimportant variations, 




MODEL OF THE COTTON GIN. 



THE STORY OF THE COTTON GIN. 1 3 

were manufactured and set up in various parts of the State. 
The owners of the original gin (Mr. Whitney had taken as 
a partner Mr. Phineas Miller, who had married his friend, 
Mrs. Greene) were involved, after the issue of their patent 
in the fall of 1793, in almost endless litigation. Their 
rights, moral and legal, were shamefully disregarded. 

In spite of the loss of their only model, and the infringe- 
ment of their patent, Whitney and Miller still had hopes of 
securing a share of the wealth which their machine was 
sure to create. Their plan was to sell no machines, but to 
gin cotton for the planters on shares, the owners of the gin 
retaining one pound in every three. This turned out to be 
an unfortunate plan. Whitney, who went north for the 
purpose, was unable to supply the needed machines. The 
scarcity of money, due to the wild speculations in land, 
crippled his operations. Scarlet fever broke out among his 
workmen ; and, to cap a long series of misfortunes, just 
as Whitney was recovering from a serious illness, he 
arrived at New Haven to find his factory and half-finished 
machines in ashes. This was a serious blow. Not only 
was the financial loss large, but the impatient planters, who 
had raised an immense quantity of cotton, the value of 
which depended on its being ginned, were given extra in- 
ducements to make machines for themselves in spite of the 
patent. 

The owners of the cotton gin were not disheartened by 
their misfortunes. They raised money at ruinous rates of 
interest, and proceeded with their enterprise. But no sooner 
had their prospects brightened a little than a new calamity 
came upon them. The report became current that their 
gin injured the fibre of the cotton, and decreased its value. 



14 THE STORY OF THK COTTON GIN. 

The rumor, which seems to have been founded solely on 
prejudice, came at a critical period in the affairs of the strug- 
gling concern, and for a time — until it was shown to be 
without adequate foundation — completely crippled their bus- 
iness. Their gins stood still in the midst of a cotton -growing 
country, for lack of cotton to keep them busy. It is apparent, 
I think, that the misfortunes of Whitney and Miller would 
have been only temporary, had it not been for the general 
infringement of their patent. Their rights were entirely 
disregarded throughout the cotton-growing district. The 
first case which they could bring to trial, in 1797, was decided 
against them. Such was the importance of the machine, 
the extent of the infringement and the wealth and influence 
of the guilty parties, that no jury could be found to return 
a verdict on the merits of the case. No one now denies 
that justice was on the side of the patentees ; but neverthe- 
less, sixty cases were tried before a verdict was secured 
against those who had infringed the patent. This decision 
was in 1808. The patent had only one year more to run : 
and justice, coming at so late a date, brought little recom- 
pense to the inventor. * ' The want of a disposition in man- 
kind to do justice," was the philosophic reason for all his 
troubles, given by Whitney in a letter to Robert Fulton ; 
"and I have always believed," he adds, **that I should 
have had no difficult}^ in causing my right to be re- 
spected, if it had been less valuable, and been used only 
by a small portion of the community. ' ' Whitney was, with 
good reason, disgusted at his treatment, and never after- 
wards, though he made several ingenious and valuable 
inventions, did he apply for a patent. The rewards which 
he received for his invention of the cotton gin were dis- 



THK STORY OF THB COTTON GIN. 1 5 

heartening misfortunes, the loss of a lucrative and honorable 
profession, costly and troublesome lawsuits, health shattered 
by worry and travel, a paltry grant from South Carolina, — 
and imperishable fame as one of the foremost figures in the 
history of industrial development. 

It would be impossible to enumerate the results of a 
great mechanical invention. Its influence extends to all 
ranks of society and to every region of the world. Like 
the telegraph, the steamboat, and other great inventions, the 
cotton gin has had a striking influence upon modern civiliza- 
tion. It changed the occupations and modes of life of great 
multitudes in both America and England ; it demanded and 
brought about new inventions to supplement its work ; it 
transferred the sluggish life of the South into a life of 
activity, power and wealth ; and, perhaps more important 
than all, it caused a change in the political development of 
the United States, which reached its climax in a great civil 
war. 

Its efiect upon the production of cotton was immediate 
and striking. I have already said that cotton was an unim- 
portant factor in colonial productions. In 1786, attention 
was called to the possibility of raising cotton for the English 
market and more vigorous efforts were made. In 1791, the 
South produced 2,000,000 pounds of which 189,316 pounds 
were exported. The following year, however, the exporta- 
tion was only 50,000 pounds. So diflScult, in fact, was the 
process of ginning, that tobacco, indigo and rice bade fair to 
be the permanent products of the Southern states. In the 
winter of 1792-93 came the invention of the cotton gin. 
Encouraged by the hope of its success, the planters, during 
the following season (1793), raised 5,000,000 pounds of cot- 



1 6 THE STORY OF THE COTTON GIN. 

ton, and sent 487,600 pounds to England. During the fol- 
lowing year, the use of the cotton gin became more general 
in Georgia and South Carolina. It is not surprising, there- 
fore, to find a product of 8,000.000 pounds in 1794, and an 
exportation of over 1,600,000 pounds. Year after year, the 
area of the cotton producing country, the number of planters 
and their slaves, and the amount and value of the crop, 
showed a rapid growth. In 1800, the product was 35,000,- 
000 pounds; in 1810, 85,000,000; in 1820, 160,000,000; in 
1830, 350,000,000; in 1840, 880,000,000, and — to omit the 
intervening decades — in 1880, the crop was 3,200,000,000 
pounds. The debt which the nation and the world owe to 
Kli Whitney is proclaimed by the eloquence of statistics. 
They indicate that Robert Fulton was not wrong when he 
said that ' ' Arkwright, Watt and Whitney were the three 
men who did most for mankind of any of their cotempora- 
ries. ' ' Nor was Lord Macaulay too extravagant in saying, 
''What Peter the Great did to make Russia dominant, Eli 
Whitney's invention of the cotton gin has more than 
equalled in its relation to the power and progress of the 
United States." 

The benefit derived from the cotton gin, however, was 
not unaccompanied with evil. It gave an immense stimulus 
to the growth of slavery. At the time of the invention, the 
' * cherished institution ' ' was not flourishing. There were 
40,000 slaves in the Northern states, and about 600,000 in 
the Southern ; but in the North the extinction of slavery 
was already in sight, and in the South it was impossible to 
supply the slaves with profitable labor. Emancipation 
societies were tolerated ; slavery was regarded as probably 
of limited duration ; and men like Washington, Jefferson, 



THK STORY OF THE COTTON GIN. 1 7 

Madison and Pinckney were outspoken in their disapproval 
of the system. But the production of cotton, which the 
cotton gin made possible, was pecularly adapted to slave 
labor. Says Greely : — 

' * No other out-door work afforded such constant and 
nearly uniform employment for this description of labor. 
Throughout the greater part of the Southwest, ploughing 
for the cotton crop may be commenced in January ; to be 
followed directly by planting ; this by weeding ; and hardly 
has the cultivation of the earth been completed, when the 
picking of the more advanced bolls may be commenced ; 
and this with ginning, often employs the whole force 
of the planters nearly or quite up to the commencement of 
the Christmas holidays. These being over, the preparation 
of the fields for ploughing is again commenced ; so that 
there is no season when the hands need stand idle ; and 
though long spring and summer rains, impeding tillage 
while impelling the growth of weeds and of grass, some- 
times induce weeks of necessary hurry and of unusual 
effort, there is absolutely no day of the year when the 
experienced planter or competent overseer cannot find full 
employment for his hands in some detail of the cultivation 
of cotton." American Conflict \, 68. 

It is not surprising then, that with the progress of 
cotton -growing, the value of slaves rapidly increased, moral 
sentiment against slavery completely disappeared, and the 
pernicious system became thoroughly interwoven with the 
social and industrial life of the Southern people. In view 
of its effect upon slavery, it is not too much to say, with no 
discredit to its inventor, that the cotton gin, in addition to 
its immeasurable benefits, did more than all other agencies 



1 8 THK STORY OF THK COTTON GIN. 

to nourish the cause of the greatest political episode of 
modern times, — the struggle against slavery, and its cul- 
mination in civil war. 

Note. The writer is indebted for the illustration of the 
cotton gin accompanying this article as well as for the fol- 
lowing interesting letter, to Kli Whitney Esq., of New 
Haven, Conn., son of the inventor of the cotton gin. The 
letter is dated, 

** Nkw Havkn, Mar. 20, 1890. 

* * The photograph sent to you of the cotton gin is from a 
small model, say 18x12, made under my father's direction, 
about 90 years ago. There are but two of these models 
in existence : one at the Smithsonian, and the one in my 
possession. 

' * The cotton gins manufactured to-day have precisely the 
same mechanical combination as these models. My father's 
invention stands almost alone in this respect — that it was 
perfected when invented. Although this century has been 
so remarkable for inventions, his has never been improved 
upon by others. It is almost the only instance of the kind 
on record concerning the most important and useful inven- 
tions. That the Whitney cotton gin has conferred vast 
benefits in developing the power and progress of the United 
States is a matter of well authenticated history. The 
inventor made the prosperity of the Southern states, agri- 
culturally, financially and commercially; made England rich, 
and changed the commerce of the world. He made other 
valuable inventions, but the litigation and cost of maintain- 
ing his cotton gin patent so disgusted him that he took out 
no other patent, though he could have received many. 



THE STORY OF THE COTTON GIN. 1 9 

* ' His invention of methods for making practical and suc- 
cessful his system of making the parts of arms, and any- 
other article, often repeated in manufacture, is of the 
utmost importance to mankind, and is undoubtedly the 
foundation of the mechanical prosperity of the United 
States, and the superiority of American manufactures over 
those of any other country. I refer to his uniformity 
system — or making the similar parts of an arm or machine 
so near alike in shape that they can be used in assembling 
the piece without working. In 1798, when he proposed to 
make arms with parts interchangeable, the French and Eng- 
lish ordnance departments laughed at the idea as an absurd- 
ity, saying that each arm would be a model, etc., and would 
cost $100; but he soon proved the advantages of his 
inventions, so that the United States government adopted 
his system in all the armories under its control. In 1798, 
there were very few skilled mechanics in the United States, 
and this uniformity sj^stem enabled the manufacturers to 
employ unskilled mechanics to great advantage. In 1856, 
the British government, and in 1871 and 1872, the Russian, 
German, French and Italian governments adopted the 
uniformity system of m^aking arms, invented by Kli 
Whitney in 1797-98. It has been worth many millions to 
the United States and the world, but he received a very 
trifling compensation, scarcely worth mentioning, and that 
indirectly. At the present time, guns, clocks, watches, 
sewing machines, and almost every article of wood or metal 
which is often repeated, is made on the plan of his uniformity 
system, and it would be a loss of many millions every year 
for the manufacturers of the United States to go back to 
the old European system of manufacture." 



THE DEDICATION OF THE MEMORIAL TABLET. 



The Westborough Historical Society, on its field day, 
Sept. 5, 1904, met at the site of the Eli Whitney home- 
stead, and in the presence of the assembled hundreds, 
dedicated at the noon hour a tablet to the memory of the 
inventor. 

The secretary, Mrs. A. C. Stearns, read the record 
authorizing the marking of the historic site. In behalf of 
the committee consisting of Messrs. C. S. Henry, I. M. 
Beaman and E. C. Bates, Mr. Beaman presented the com- 
pleted memorial to the society. 

The president, S. I. Briant, then said : 

"In behalf of the Westborough Historical Society, I 
accept, as its president, the setting of this tablet by you 
on this ever memorable spot — the stone itself so often felt 
the impress of the boy and the man, that it will ever be 
viewed with veneration, and the tablet the gift of the 
thoughtful grandchildren will forever inspire the beholder 
to noblest aspirations and world-wide endeavors." 

Prayer was then offered by Rev. M. W. Schuh. The 
tablet was unveiled, while two stanzas of " My country 'tis 
of thee," were sung by the company led by choir and 
cornet. 

Hon. A. S. Roe of Worcester, then delivered an address 
on Eli Whitney and his work. It was of great interest, 
tracing the career of the inventor from early boyhood to 
mature manhood. It was published in lull in the West- 
boro Chronotype. 

The stone on which the tablet is set was the front door step of 
the orig-inal house, and was donated by Mr. W. H. Johnson of 
Northborough. It is placed by the side of the road in front of 
the house which occupies the site of the original dwelling. 



018 446 323 4 



